To put a lid on that story: I never got that PS3 working. I tried changing the WiFi card but that didn’t do it. I also stripped the system right down and discovered that Sony hadn’t covered the processors in thermal paste properly. I don’t know where the picture has gone that shows that… I know for a fact that I took one!

So I weighed up how many games, Blu Ray Discs and peripherals we had for it, sucked it up and bought a new one.

I’m still fuming about the conversation I had with Sony’s Customer Services.

However, not one to give up, I’ve had another play. I again tried the online upgrade to 3.4 with the same result as before. This time when I recovered I did a full format of the hard drive on the PC to clear all remnants.

I downloaded the 3.4 update file from Sony’s Website and installed it on my USB. I then tried the update again. Same effect. Failed at 40%.

I’m now back on 3.3 again, without the Sony store and without BBC iPlayer which I can’t get because of needing system update….

This morning my PS3 nagged me into doing an online update, as it is sometimes wont to do, and I duly pressed the necessary buttons and slipped away to make a cup of coffee.

When I came back, the machine was reporting a 8002F147 error and instructing me to power down using the front switch, disconnect the power cord, then plug it back in and try again. I shrugged, and did what it said. The machine rebooted and went straight into the setup again. This time I watched as it got to 40% and failed with the same error. I tried again with the power advice and got the same result.

I put a phone call in to Sony Tech Support in the UK, and the operator told me that the servers were a bit busy, and to try later…… Hmm. I left it a bit, retried with the same result and got to thinking that the update had already made it onto the hard drive, and that the issue was a failure in the local update. I was also stuck in a loop with no way to access the PS3 main menu, as it immediately booted into the update. I put in another call.

This time the operator took my details and those of the box and stepped me through a sequence to supposedly reboot the system into factory reset mode. It didn’t work, and he went off to seek advice from his Supervisor. When it arrived, the advice was to open a load of ports on my router to ensure the PS3 was communicating correctly and try again.

I opened the ports, rebooted the PS3, but the failure was the same as I honestly expected it would be.

Call three went in to Sony, and after he too went off to seek advice I was told that my machine was a) faulty b) out of warranty and c) irreparable over the phone. He then offered to replace it like for like, but it would cost me £130.00 for the privilege. You can imagine how the conversation ran from there. I am waiting for a call from a “Supervisor” who will no doubt say exactly the same thing.

Let’s be clear here. This is a stock 40GB PS3, bought a couple of years ago. It’s unmodified and the warranty seals are all intact. It has been upgraded whenever the system has nagged me to do it without any previous problems. It’s not the most used piece of kit in the house, and we use it for Blu-Ray DVD watching more than gaming. However, it’s a Sony piece of Hardware that has been broken by a Sony online upgrade. I do not see how that can be my fault in any way, shape or form.

So, I was left fuming and without a PS3 or Blu-Ray player. I’ll now tell you how I managed to tease it back to v3.3 of the Software.

(DO NOT try this if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Incorrect use of the Disk Management tool in Windows could leave you with a broken PC as well)

I downloaded the old 3.3 Update from the Sony EU site and stuck it on a pen drive as instructed.

Then I removed the SATA Hard Drive from the PS3 and plugged it into my PC instead of the DVD drive. (My ports are full on the big box).

On Win 7 Go to Computer Manager -> Disk Management and it will complain that the new disk has no MBR. I created one and formatted the drive as NTFS. (It doesn’t matter because the PS3 will reformat the drive when you re-insert it and all I wanted to do was lose the corrupt update).

I unplugged the drive and stuck it back in the PS3. The system came up and complained that it needed an update. I put the USB drive in and then formatted the drive when prompted. The system then restored to 3.3 and I’m up and running again, albeit on a fresh system with all of our saved games gone.

Of course, being me, I then tried to do the update to 3.4 to see if it really was a corrupt download that borked the install. It wasn’t, and the system failed again at exactly the same point.

I’ve restored the 3.3 system again and the PS3 is working as it was at 9am this morning. I can’t use the Online store or anything on the Network tab because it refuses to let me in without a system update, so we’re not back to exactly where we were.

I don’t believe I’m the only person who has this issue, and I don’t accept that it’s my responsibility to pay for a new PS3. Come on Sony, if it’s failing it’s because it’s been broken since day 1, or it’s your update. Either way, I want you to do the decent thing.

Oh, and I’m still waiting for the Supervisor to call me back….

13:56 and I’ve just got off the Phone with the Sony Customer Support Supervisor. He refuses to accept that it is his update that’s broken the box. Apparently, electrical equipment fails and as my PS3 is just over 2 years old (and 1 month outside the extended waranty) it’s effectively just tough luck.

He maintains the position that the update isn’t to blame, and that if there was a problem more people than me would have reported it. I maintain the position that, as I’ve got the box running on v3.3, it’s obviously something to do with their update. We went round this circle getting more and more heated as the conversation went on.

After initially telling me that he was the most senior person to speak to, and there was no-one else to go to, I’ve been given an address to write to and complain. He assures me that they will tell me exactly the same. It’s my box that’s developed a fault, and they will only offer me a £130 replacement.

If I want to use the online store, this is a mandatory update and your update has broken your PS3. It’s happily running 3.3 as we speak so how can this be my fault in any way?

I’m now going to send my letter of complaint to the PO Box address I’ve been given. I don’t expect any kind of Customer Satisfaction. Sony, I thought better of you than this. Looks like I was wrong.

I didn’t celebrate my 40th Birthday as such, I was saving the party for this year as I’m 42 and a Hitch Hiker’s geek, but redundancy and the fact that I’m almost down to my last fiver have put paid to those plans.

My Birthday is the 8th. However the 15th January became notable for two (soon to be three) events. The Birthday of my best friend at School, Nigel Mather, the date in 1990 that I started my ‘career’ on the Railway, and now, in 2010, the day I’m going in to hospital to have my nose fixed.

I’ve never been able to breathe properly through my right nostril since I came of my bike and landed on my face just a few days before Sian Lewis’ 13th Birthday party in 1981. A party, incidentally, that I didn’t attend as my face was a mass of scabs. We failed to appreciate the underlying damage that had been caused to my beak, and didn’t attend Hospital with the injuries.

My Consultant believes it’s a factor in the issue I have with my left ear keep bunging up internally, so he’s offered to fix it.

The operation is scheduled for the afternoon of the 15th and I’m due for admission at around one o’clock. So what the hell am I doing working a night shift in Chatham, Kent? Well, you remember I said I was down to my last fiver…..?

I saw on Twitter yesterday a tweet urging people to buy a Big Issue for twenty pounds over the Christmas period.

At least one of the people I follow jumped in with an “I’m in” and I started considering doing the same.

A day later and I’m thinking back a number of years to the time I drank frequently in my then local.

One of the regulars was long term unemployed with little sign that he wanted to change his situation. One Christmas he was feeling the strain of making his benefit cheque stretch through the whole festive period. “No matter”, he said, “I’ll just go and do some Big Issues in Town”. I’ve never bought one since.

I think the idea behind the twenty pound donation is a sound one, but I’m going to give ‘at the Office’.